Ramadan: devotion, compassion, and purification in Sydney

Abstract

Abstract While Ramadan in Western societies has been studied extensively in relation to health issues, no research to date has explored its representation through social scientific lenses. This article uses the Greater Western Sydney region in New South Wales, Australia, as a case study. This agglomeration of suburbs from the outer western suburbs of Sydney to the Blue Mountains has the highest proportion of Muslims in the country. To understand the representation of Islam in this region, this paper first analyses the articles in its major and local newspapers to then contrast them to the way the Ramadan festival is represented by mosques on their websites. This research discovers that Ramadan in Sydney newspapers tends to be reported in a secular fashion with a stronger focus on its public and economic activities. The focus of a large proportion of these articles on the way it attracts business demonstrates that it is a well-accepted event in Australia. In contrast, the pictures provided in Muslim sites in Sydney are more religious than the newspaper depiction and show a contrast with regard to ethnicity and gender. While the newspaper pictures are from the public sphere and tend to be multicultural across various Muslim ethnicities and do not show gender segregation, the online pictures from Muslim organisation show a strong gender segregation and represent the local ethic community they serve. While the representations in the public sphere are neo-liberal post-secularism and multiculturalism, those from these organisations are curating religiously important rather than business orientated moments in their community.